Posted
by
timothy
on Wednesday October 22, 2008 @02:58PM
from the trucker-in-the-middle dept.

mikesd81 writes "Wired reports Nicholas Lakes and Viachelav Berkovich are charged with computer fraud [PDF] for a man-in-the-middle attack that allegedly let them run a profitable trucking company without the hassle of driving a truck. For over three years the Russian immigrants hacked a Department of Transportation website called Safersys.org, which maintains a list of licensed interstate trucking companies and brokers. They then went on forums where brokers advertise cargo in need of transportation and negotiate a deal, for example, to transport cargo from American Canyon, California, to Jessup, Maryland, for $3,500. But instead of transporting the load, they would outsource the job to another trucking company posing as the legitimate company whose identity they'd hijacked. They would then invoice the company and take the money. When the company that owned the actual truck tried to contact the company that needed the goods delivered, they found they knew nothing about it. Over all they made nearly $500,000."

They were not subcontractors. The criminals were imitating contractors and taking money in their name. When the real contractors showed up, the goods were there, but the money had been paid to someone else.

The criminals imitated a legitimate trucking company, bid on and won loads, then subcontracted the actual hauling out to a second trucking company. When the load was delivered, the criminals would pocket the money. When the subcontractor that did the actual hauling would contact the legitimate company to get paid, the company wouldn't know anything about it because said company was impersonated by the criminals.

The scam worked like this:Criminals hack into SaferSys.org and get the info of trucking company A.They would then go on a load board and bid on and win a load from company B.Then, as A they would contract trucking company C to haul the load for BWhen the load was delivered, B would pay the criminals thinking they were paying A.The criminals then disappear with the money.Meanwhile company C would contact A to get paid for actually hauling the load and A would have no idea what C was talking about.

Has anyone noticed that these two zeebs didn't actually earn a very good living with this scam?

Two guys laboring for three years to produce ~$500,000... that is an annual salary of $83K apiece, which is good pay for a regular low-risk job but lousy pay for a high-risk situation like this one. And lo and behold the risk occurred and stung them both.

The more stories like this I hear about, the more I think that most criminals work too hard for their take, and ought to reconsider.

83K per year per person is pretty lucrative for small-time criminals. They don't pay any taxes. They live in their immigrant neighborhoods, which have a low cost of living (even in cities like brooklyn). There is no such thing as high-risk to immigrant criminals, except for deportation, of course. Pretty good scam, considering they didn't need a lot of people (no credit).

On the contrary, where can you find a job doing anything legal which nets you $83k after taxes and lets you (a) work from home (b) not bother to work when you don't want to and (c) only requires a few hours a month (which is all they probably did). If the 83k were taxable, it would put them in the top 23% of wage earners in the US, and if you account for taxes on top of their (untaxed) 83k (i.e. payroll and income), you're solidly in the top 15% in take-home.

Trust me, being a criminal is far less time intensive than a steady job at the same wage. Most of these guys would probably struggle to hold down a $22-30,000/yr service position in the "real world".

Besides, now it looks like they'll get free room and board for several years.

Also, if pocketing all the cash results in a low take for the scammers, think how little the legit truckers must get in profits under normal circumstances!

That's a very good observation. I recall reading, a number of years ago, that since President Reagan's days there was a lot of deregulation in trucking, partly in an effort to break the Teamsters. And, as a result, the collateral damage was a large increase in longer hours behind the wheel, a marginally capable pool of 'new' immigrant drivers and the NAFTA, which had a lot of Mexican truckers, who were obviously unfamiliar with US highway driving, crossing all the way to Canada and East.

Over the last 15 years or so the number of trucks increased about 40% but the number of miles driven nearly doubled. Also, the number of automobiles involved in fatal crashes with trucks declined by around 40%, but trucker fatalities only dropped by about 6%. I'm not saying that 'proves' anything, but it certainly looks like truckers, on average, are pulling more miles, and getting themselves killed in solo accidents, as a result. [My brain isn't hooked-up for math, tonight, but before the declines in fatalities, on the highways, in general, 2/3 of the accidents involving big trucks were caused by cars, so, if auto fatalities, in general, have declined, and they have, then truck fatalities should have also declined at a much better rate, if all things were considered equal]

Driving a truck is no party. I used to drive a car, heheh, about 100,000 miles a year. And I remember, mid-to-late 80s or so, realizing that a fair number of trucks, out on the Interstates, late at night, seemed to do little things that they didn't do in the 'old days.' Truckers used to be the best drivers on the road, and they very well might still be. But that is one tough way to make a decent living.

I only drove a cab for a few years, a piece of cake compared to a transport truck, and even that was a bit rough. I leased my car 24/7, and there were plenty of times I could drive, but not walk (not without a great deal of discomfort). No doubt truckers are suffering a lot of physical ailments, besides having to avoid a-holes cruising in their blind spots, and all the other crazy shit that cars and their drivers come up with.

I know how tempting it is to be more amused at the two Russians' clever little scam, but driving long hauls, and not getting compensated, because of a couple of scumbags? If there's any justice Vlad and his pal will end up in a joint, on a block with some Teamsters. I guarantee they won't be laughing and feeling so fucking smart then.

You're incorrect. The criminals would replace the phone number of an approved contractor with their own number, and then pose as that company when the customer with goods to ship called them up to arrange a contract. They'd then turn around and, still posing as the legitimate trucking company, subcontract the job to someone else who would actually pickup the goods and deliver them.

Thus, the customer pays the criminals to move the goods, and the criminals get the subcontractor to do it, then they just don't pay the subcontractor. If the subcontractor wants to complain, he just ends up talking to the company that the criminals were impersonating, who has not been involved at all up to that point.

The "real contractors" never show up to ship anything -- they are just the "fall guy" who the customer and subcontractor both thought they were dealing with.

I don't find that incredible at all. I have relatives in the trucking industry (yeah go figure!).

1. Contractors usually invoice with net-30 terms, meaning they only get paid a month after the job is done.

2. Some jobs are paid upon project completion, which means you could be waiting 3-6 months or more.

2. A lot of trucking/construction businesses are run by imbeciles with poor cashflow that pay late, and some of them are just assholes who pay late on purpose.

3. A lot of companies go bankrupt (or vanish) and never pay.

4. A large number of truckers are independent, so the bookkeeping is handled by either the guy himself or their spouse. Things fall through the cracks all the time.

5. How many trucking companies are there in the US ? Enough that these crooks never had to use the same one twice. These contractors don't exactly communicate fraud information with each other, so you could scam N-2 companies and still find a pair of suckers.

The story of hacking isn't bullshit. They changed the contact info for the companies they were impersonating to numbers they controlled. It says so in TFA. The scam may have worked without that step, but according to the article that's what they did.

Also, it's funny that if they'd paid the subcontractor and kept the difference, they'd probably still be running the scam. They'd probably be able to rip off the brokers indefinitely if the trucking companies were happy with their pay and arrangements. It seems it was the angry trucking companies coming back on the brokers they thought hired them that caused this to break open.

A smaller, slower take could have given them a good steady side income for years longer. If the only crime was posing as some broker and using that broker's good name to garner business, they'd get light sentences even if they were caught. If they could have ramped up to where they were stealing 3% or 4% of every broker's business, they'd have been able to live very comfortably.

"...If they could have ramped up to where they were stealing 3% or 4% of every broker's business, they'd have been able to live very comfortably"

This is how the "mob" or organized crime or even street gangs work. They don't rob the businesses of everything. They take a cut. Take to big of a cut and the victims go broke or just leave. Dumb criminal are the greedy ones.

if the trucking companies were happy with their pay and arrangements. [...] they could have ramped up to where they were stealing 3% or 4% of every broker's business, they'd have been able to live very comfortably.

At that point, the only thing they'd really be stealing is the franchise fee they aren't paying to the company whose name they are doing business under. On the other hand, 3-4% smaller piece of the pie might be a worthwhile commission for them improving the real company's reputation like that, if it makes a bigger pie.

Maybe I'll set up a company with a business model that consists of getting its name hijacked by forward-thinking Russian scammers, and monetizing the resulting reputation by selling franch

1) They would have to compete with other trucking company2) They would not be able to offer lower rate to the shipper, and higher rates to the subcontractor. (hence harder to compete)3) They would have made $2000 instead of $500000 (assuming they could charge a difference of 4% - and assuming they could get the same amount of business)4) Their only monetary benefits compared to a being a real broker would be avoiding paying taxes and whatever fees a broker needs to pay.

Sure I'll add you to the newsletter, for $50.00 (In actuality I wont, I'll get someone else to write the newsletter and when he goes looking for these guys who are supposed to be writing it I'll get off scott free)

Except that it wasn't environmentally friendly because a truck still rolled with a load. The load got delivered, but the pay for the delivery was stolen. And, chances are the "company" that delivered the load and didn't get paid was an independent trucker, and loosing that money could put them out of business.

If your margins are so thin you can't afford to absorb one lost shipment you are already out of business and just don't know it. My dad has customers file bankruptcy on a semi-regular basis and it never puts him out of business, it's just factored into his margin. Unless you have a single customer who accounts for more than 50% of your sales (like Walmart for many companies) the loss of payment from a single source shouldn't put you out of business.

The margins have only become that slim in the last year as the price of diesel has skyrocketed but the rate for a load has barely risen. Two years ago, something like this wouldn't put an owner/operator out of business, but between low freight pay, high fuel costs, and tight credit, something like this can be devastating for and o/o.

Yeah I was a bit wigged out by something I saw the other day, while regular gas had fallen to $2.30/gal diesel was still almost $4! Not sure why the truckers are getting shafted but at some point they need to collectively decide that their increased costs are going to get passed on because their customers have little alternative for moving their goods. That would be bad in the short term for my dad because transportation is already one of his largest costs after raw materials but he'd adjust and pass along

Agreed - this does not seem to be a Troll post. This seems to be more of a (-1 JFGI) post. The first hit through google, here, [wikipedia.org] has the answer at the top (assuming that you can pick the correct answer between "Ottawa/Rockcliffe Airport, the IATA airport code" and "A Slashdot sub-section on politics, Your Rights Online").

Nice guys, they're very persuasive in person. Vitaly is loud, boisterous, always wants to have a good time. He wears fine suits and a lot of gold. Vlade is quieter, and he seems to have some sort of brooding intensity. He was always wearing track suits and listening to Run-DMC.

I honestly believed that these were best guys for transporting my adult novelties across state lines. This can be illegal in some jurisdictions (like Texas) and you need someone who knows how to run an illegal business. Since they are Russian, I knew they could handle it.

They kept telling me that the merchadise was seized at the Texas border by Davy Crockett and Ed Meese, and I believed them for a long time. Finally, after the 3rd shipment I started to suspect something. All of a sudden, the phone stopped ringing. Those Russians had played me for a fool!

That's when I knew I had to become a symbol. A creature of the night, to frighten away criminal scum like these Russians. I prayed to Jesus, and he transformed me into...the Bat-Man!

In earlier years, this kind of fraud could have been executed over the telephone, or through the mail. Why does the medium that was used affect the specific criminal charge applied -- "computer fraud"? Just plain fraud would do nicely.

They do that with just about every category of fraud. I believe that it's partially related to scope and entities responsible for enforcement (different folks handle the case depending on whether I sell you a Rollex from my coat, mail fake credit card applications from my state to yours to gain personal information, or call you from Nigeria to get you to help me with a tricky financial situation). Another reason is probably related to the perceived impact to society at large (can this type of fraud easily

I guess the problem was that the folks who didn't get paid couldn't communicate well enough with the company who paid the money out. If that company had just cooperated then the funds could have been tracked to see where they were deposited, which would then lead to the criminals. I suspect that's what finally happened in the end.

All that work by several people over three years to make $500K? There were apparently more people involved than the two indicted, and they had some operating costs. So they might have made $50K/year per participant, if they were lucky. And they had all the hassles of running a business. Even without the "going to jail" part, this was a lose.

They probably would have done better running a legit trucking brokerage, which they clearly knew how to do. They had to do all the selling and paperwork a real broker would do. Worse,
their scam model didn't allow for much repeat business, so they had to keep hustling to find new customers.

And wear special hats... "trucker hats," I believe they are called.
A little bit of help from wardrobe, some minor social engineering, a little bit of that Ashton Kutcher flair, and it was time to start Punking the real truckers.

$500,000 tax-free is more like a $750,000 before taxes. Between the two of them that would be a $125,000 annual salary each for not doing much.
Besides we only know about this scam, who know what other "businesses" these guys were running.

I OWN a trucking company now, and have been dealing with assholes like this for years.

Whats becoming even MORE of a problem is the illegals who go out and steal (borrow) an MC and/or DOT number and slap it on the side of their truck. Then they "go to work".

What with my insurance costing me > 1200 A MONTH, PER TRUCK, it is easy to see why someone would want to "run illegally". It's fairly hard to get caught, unless you run across state lines. Hence, most of the people don't.

If your truck is titled, with a sticker for the correct weight, you don't go over it, and you don't have any other reason for a scale to flag you, then they don't pull you in. You don't get pulled in, you don't get busted.

At the risk of being called a racist, the BIGGEST Lusers of this type of behavior, are mexicans. Period. And, this isn't a local trend (California), this is a NATIONAL trend.

Whats sad is this: The idiots doing THIS scam didn't have to hack anything. All they had to do is look up a legit DOT / MC number for a BROKER, and then go into business with the same business name.

And brokers licenses are CHEAP. Instead of my insurance rates (600/month liability (1 million dollars), 1000/6 months Cargo, 500/month basic liability (the 600 a month liability doesn't cover you, unless you have a loaded trailer or a load in the "box truck")). For a brokers license, you need a basic 10K dollar insurance policy. Costs, at most, about 250 a month, if you go to the right insurance agent. BOC3 filings cost another 100 a year.

These people are the reasons trucking businesses are going out of business. It's hard enough having to make 3.00 a mile, when most freight will pay you 1.50 to 2.00 a mile. Then you get the.ru faggots in there stealing business, etc.

They went even farther than that. According to the Owner / Operator Independant Drivers Association (http://www.ooida.org), they have pulled Russian's out of trucks who didn't speak A WORD OF ENGLISH, where UNABLE to properly identify 3 road signs, etc., and WHERE BEHIND THE WHEEL OF 80,000 to 120,000 pound trucks. However, if you REALLY research it, you can / will find that most people who are running illegally, carry names like Jose, Manuel, etc.

Sad state of affairs, having to try to make money while people operating illegally are competing with you. Even sadder state of affairs when legal companies are getting profits skimmed off them from illegal brokers, and having to deal with Hose-A and Hose-B running illegally.

Thank GOD I had dedicated accounts who paid me regularly, and everything else was handled COD.

This isn't going to stop, nor is it going to go away. It's a fact of life, and until they do PrePass on EVERY truck (somewhat like RFID, but uses EasyTag type devices in the trucks), everyone who operates on the road has to deal with people like this.

--Toll_Free

(disclaimer: I took a motorcycle into a wall at 130MPH 6 or so months ago. My company closed at that time, so read into this what you will. Unfortunately, this WAS work related, the motorcycle was a customers, and the throttle cable stuck in a 3/4 gear shift getting the bike to my trailer.)

Trucks will all be driven by computer in a few (10-20?) years. That will force a change in business models for everyone involved in trucking.

Likely, people who own trucks will get them retrofitted and then someone will create a site where shipping jobs are auctioned off. The truck owners will bid on the jobs and then send their trucks off to do the work. Capital will flow into the industry such that the rate of return one can get on owning an autonomous truck matches every other low margin business out ther

HAHAHA hahaha haha HAHAHAHA hahaha
Whooo! Sorry for the derision, but that was all the talk 20 years ago (except it was "2001" then). Light passenger cars might be computer driven (more likely assisted, like auto-braking for safety) in special cases after 25 years, but 40 ton trucks should be the province of a human until computers can think like people. There's extra training needed to pilot a big rig correctly; that means it would be doubly hard for a computer to handle unforeseen scenarios.

Not that I don't sympathize with the plight of the trucking industry, but it sounds like the business model you're describing is no longer profitable.

The problem with the trucking industry is not illegal immigrants or unscrupulous competitors. The business you describe should, in theory, be able to attract clients willing to pay more for licensed drivers and adequate insurance. And yet they are still operating with razor thin (and even negative) margins. Most likely because their are just too many legal operations in competition for too little business.

Singling out "mexicans" (ignoring the varied origins of the local Latino population) strikes me as being quite explicitly racist in this context. You are using people of a different cultural background and physical appearance as a scapegoat for problems caused by the inherent weaknesses in your industry.

Kawasaki 750 turbo motorcycle. Gets moving PRETTY quick, especially when I found out the original owner had done the "race mode" modification of changing two wires on the ECU. Turns off the wastegate on the turbo, so basically, as much boost as that little hairdryer would spool, is what I was running at. From noticing the problem to the accident was all of about 2 seconds. Not a whole lot of time.

His point is that being hispanic does not cause or otherwise predilect a person to illegally operate a truck.

It should be obvious when you consider that 99.99% of hispanics in the USA don't even drive shipping trucks to begin with. But, even if you ignore that, consider how many hispanics are legal operators of trucks. I don't know the number, but I'd be willing to bet that the ratio is at least 10:1 legal to criminal, probably significantly more.

1. Thanks for the congrats. I attribute my survival to actually, at the last split second, jumping off the bike. My RT leg was caught between the bike and the construction barricade, causing me to get, literally, bent over a barrel (those orange barrels you see in construction areas). That's what caused the damage to my shoulder and hip. Otherwise, I'd be dead.

2. I grew up going to Revolucion every weekend. San Diego, born and raised. At least half my relationships have been with hispanic women, so

Except for the fact that they were stealing another company's identity, that's not a bad idea. If they'd started something called, say, "truck-bay" and allowed people to take bids from trucking companies on specific delivery jobs (tacking on a service fee of their own of course), they'd have a perfectly legitimate business.

It's a little complicated so I don't blame you if you didn't follow exactly what the scam was. They were acting like ebay... except they were keeping the entire final bid and disappearing to leave the bidder and seller to argue about payment.

No, if that's what they were doing they could have set up a legitimate business and possibly been successful.

They weren't "taking a slice off the top" - They were taking the whole pie, having the sub-contractors haul the loads they'd committed to, and then leaving the drivers uncompensated because they had in fact been hired by scammers rather than a legitimate contracting firm. Contacting the actual contracting firms did no good because they had no knowledge of the contract and the $$ had gone to the Russians.

I admit that the summary was a little hard to follow - I had to read it a couple of times too - TFA makes the situation much more clear.